tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Health authorities yesterday eased concerns over human swine flu (H1N1), despite the death of a 56-year-old man with the disease.
He developed acute pneumonia and was admitted to Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital in Tai Po on Saturday and died later that day.
Swine flu was confirmed though it was not necessarily the cause of death.
The patient had previously been healthy, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday. "As the cause of death is unknown, the case was reported to the coroner," she said.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said swine flu is now a normal seasonal influenza and has been removed from the list of notifiable infectious diseases.
Centre for Health Protection figures showed that flu activity declined to baseline level last week, he said.
About 44 percent of flu viruses detected were H3 viruses, with 24 percent of them swine flu, the figures showed.
The department raised the alert level to serious on November 17, following the confirmation of avian flu (H5N1) in a 59-year-old woman.
It was the first case of bird flu since 2003.
The woman is in a stable condition at Princess Margaret Hospital.
Authorities do not know whether she became infected in the mainland or in Hong Kong.
She visited Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou from October 23 to November 1 and went to a wet market in Tuen Mun on her return.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=105375&sid=30434110&con_type=1
He developed acute pneumonia and was admitted to Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital in Tai Po on Saturday and died later that day.
Swine flu was confirmed though it was not necessarily the cause of death.
The patient had previously been healthy, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday. "As the cause of death is unknown, the case was reported to the coroner," she said.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said swine flu is now a normal seasonal influenza and has been removed from the list of notifiable infectious diseases.
Centre for Health Protection figures showed that flu activity declined to baseline level last week, he said.
About 44 percent of flu viruses detected were H3 viruses, with 24 percent of them swine flu, the figures showed.
The department raised the alert level to serious on November 17, following the confirmation of avian flu (H5N1) in a 59-year-old woman.
It was the first case of bird flu since 2003.
The woman is in a stable condition at Princess Margaret Hospital.
Authorities do not know whether she became infected in the mainland or in Hong Kong.
She visited Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou from October 23 to November 1 and went to a wet market in Tuen Mun on her return.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=105375&sid=30434110&con_type=1